The room was in darkness.
Angela Parker lay on the bed with her body stiffened, feeling that she was spellbound and could not move.
This night... was her engagement night with an old man!
She heard the sound of opening the door, feeling so scared as to close her eyes and afraid of what was happening next.
It was rumored that Bryant's third son was hideous, eccentric and notorious. He seemed to have sexual dysfunction and so had no women around.
In the whole city, even if someone was greedy for Bryant's property, they dared not marry their daughters to him.
However, Parker Family did.
Because Parker Family was short of money. Parker Group was in a serious crisis, so Angela's dad went to a loan shark. Now those people went her home to ask the money back and if Parker Family did not pay the money, they would claim her father's life.
Her dad was reluctant to sacrifice her elder sister, and so she was sent over.
The debtee accepted at once and asked for inspection tonight.
Inspection...It meant checking her body, insulting as it was. For Hankie, she might be like some insignificant merchandise, but, anyway, they just took what they needed.
She felt that Hankie was around forty or fifty years old, but he had not married yet, so she guessed that he might have some sexual malfunction or have some eccentric hobbies.
Like, abuse!
She trembled more when thinking of this.
The quilt was uncovered, and a big hand touched her, slightly coarse and cold, like the devil's hand from hell.
"Ah--"
She was so scared that she screamed.
The man fell into a short silence and then said, "Afraid?"
His voice was hoarse and low. Extremely nervous as she was, she could not tell whether it sounded pleasant or not.
She only felt that the voice was low and deep as if he was angry.
Yet when she thought of that her dad was still waiting for the life-saving money, she clenched her teeth and endured the fear and said with a trembling voice, "Yes... I'm a little scared, but I can overcome it..."
"I'll turn on the lights, which may let you feel more secured."
The man seemed like a gentleman, because he did not force her to do anything.
He raised his hand to touch the switch on the wall, but Angela held it tightly before he could.
"No..."
Her voice trembled as if she were begging him.
People said Hankie had a fierce, dreadful look just like a demon's, and, what's worse, there was a finger-long scar on his face.
If the light was on, wouldn't she black out because of her fear to him? After all, she was too sensitive and vulnerable now.
Turning on the light?... Never!
Hankie kept silent and seemed to have realized what he was doing. He slowly drew back his hand to stroke her cheek. She tried to stop it, but she dared not.
"Sir... I haven't had any man, so can you... Can you be gentle?
She said humbly.
His finger touched her, from her eyebrow, to her nose, lips, to her slender neck, then to her delicate shoulders and collarbone.
Further down was the charming, breath-taking, tempting, seductive...
Her body was more stiffened and later she believed at that moment she might be as stiff as a stone. Her little hands clutched the sheet so hard that she almost tore it in pieces.
The man knew she was scared, but he still took his time, as if he was deliberately breaking her will step by step.
"Do you know what it means lying here tonight?"
"It... It means that I will be... yours... from now on."
"Well, you are quite aware of the situation. I need a wife, and you need money, so we can be partners." When saying this, he moved his hand even downward and covered her pure, fair skin.
In her whole life, Angela had never experienced such a shameful thing and now she blushed and felt that she preferred to die.
She felt this strange man repulsive and disgusting, but she had no choice but to be his girl tonight and his wife this life.
He had been over forty while she was only eighteen...
How ironic!
Maybe she was destined to end like this.
But she was not in the mood complain anything or blame the fate because the man's hand had been on her...
"You should know what inspection means."
He said faintly, in a commanding tone.
She shuddered as she heard the words, knowing that the man was beginning to get a bit impatient because of her struggle and resistance.
Yesterday, she just finished the adult ceremony.
Then now, she, like the ripe fruits, was put in front of old man and awaited to be tasted by him.
She had no right to ask for anything, only hoping that he could be gentle and would not torture her in some abnormal ways.
She let go of the sheet and surrendered with no more resistance, thinking that he would take her the next second, but to her surprise he covered her with the quilt.
She was somewhat stunned and then heard his voice fading away, "Checked, very clean. You're still young. When you're really ready, I'll have you."
She was shocked and opened her eyes, but the man had left.
She turned on the light in a hurry, wondering whether he meant he wanted to take his promise back or was going to keep it.
She wanted to chase him, but she dared not.
She looked around the private room. The man left nothing but a puff of tobacco scent in the air, which was not strong, and even smelled good.
She waited for more than ten minutes and was sure that the man would not come back, so she put on her clothes and went out.
Unexpectedly, there was a group of reporters waiting for her at the door.
The flash shone down on her, and the nearest microphone was almost on her face.
One of the reporters questioned her aggressively, "We received a call from a man saying that you and Mr. Bryant were engaged. Is that true?"
"Where is Mr. Bryant? Didn't he come out with you?"
"Excuse me, is Mr. Bryant the same as rumored?"
"You've come out in such a short time, is it because Mr. Bryant's sex ability is...weak?"
As everyone knew, Hankie looked ugly and was evil in nature, and didn't like women. It was also said that he was impotent, unable to perform sexually.
Angela had never been in such an awkward situation before and so was forced to take several steps backward until she bumped against the wall and had no way to escape.
Hankie was the son of extreme privilege and wealth in the capital, and journalists could not afford to offend him at all in normal times.
But now these people were openly against Hankie, and, apparently, against Bryant family. There must be someone powerful behind them.
Hankie had promised to help her family, so she could not do wrong to him.
But how, how to solve this?
At this embarrassing time, a man in a business car on the other side of the street saw everything happening to her.
In the darkness, the man's face was blurred.
The driver said, "Sir, it seems that something is going on in the family. There must be a manipulator behind the scene who wants to ruin your reputation through these reporters. Shall I get off and deal with it?"
"Go ahead, don't frighten her."
A cold voice sounded without a trace of emotion.
The driver got out of the car and was going to call some guys, however, Angela made a move.
Her pale little face showed a big, brilliant smile, and her cheeks turned rosy as if she were shy and bashful.
"Hank had things to handle, so he left first and let me have a good rest before leaving. After all, I couldn't get out of bed after just being with him; how could I walk immediately?
She didn't directly answer the reporter's question. Instead, she chose to say that she couldn't get out of bed, which definitely proved Hank's sexual ability.
The reporters did not expect to get this answer, so there was a moment of silence among them and they just looked at each other in surprise.
"Then, Miss Parker... it is rumored that Mr. Bryant 's appearance..."
"My man is certainly the most handsome in the world. Have any of you ever seen his real face? My man tends to keep a low-key profile and doesn't like to appear in the public. It turned out that some vicious troublemakers should defamed him as hideous and disgusting. Moreover, my man is broad-minded and doesn't care about these despicable people. So, girls, you should choose a man like Mr. Bryant-- generous, gives you security, and more importantly, you can have good sex experiences at night!"
She said "my man" with her eyes gleaming, as if what she said were true.
Anyway, no one had ever seen the real face of Hankie, so no one would know if her words were true or not.
She felt complacent and secretly praised her cleverness in her heart.
At this time, the reporters started to feel awkward and didn't know what to ask next.
They were employed by the one behind to interview her on purpose and their purpose was to get the information the boss wants, but now... they couldn't get anything useful, then what shall they do?
"Well, excuse me, my man will pick me up for supper later. I'll go first!"
She gave them a graceful smile, waved her hand and planned to go away.
Unexpectedly, a male journalist with a pointed mouth and a monkey's cheek stopped her.
"Since Mr. Bryant is so nice to you and cares about you a lot, why he left alone and did not send a car picking you up?"
When she heard this, her back went stiff.
She blinked and then said, "Who told you he didn't? The driver will be here in five minutes. Can't I wait at the door? By the way, I told him not to do that, 'cause I thought it was too showy, but he just didn't listen!"
"Really? Let's wait for five minutes to see if it's the same as what the lady said! " The reporters weren't going to let her go, insisting on waiting with her.
Her heart sank and she regretted that she told them just a short time.
How could any car be here in just five minutes?
Thinking of this, she excused herself by saying that she needed to use the lady's room and then began to rack her brains to make rescue calls.
She begged her girlfriend to hurry out with her Audi A6.
When she came out of the toilet, she surprisedly found that there was a black Rolls-Royce parking at the door, beside which stood an old man in a tuxedo.
He bent slightly toward Angela, then opened the backseat door and said, "Miss Parker, please get in the car. Mr. Bryant has been waiting in the villa for the night with you."
Angela looked around to check if Hank had installed a bug on her. Otherwise, how could he know what happened here?
Yet she had no time to hesitate and hurried into the car.
She was desperate to escape from the scene now!
Once the car started, she patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
At the moment, in the business car, the driver exclaimed, "Sir, I didn't expect Miss Parker to be so smart. She helped prevent a lot of unnecessary troubles. I will deal with these journalists immediately, and won't let old master Bryant know it.
"Not necessary."
The man stopped the driver, and a meaningful smile rose from the corner of his mouth.
In the darkness, his eyes, like those of a falcon, showed a touch of aggressiveness.
Why did he feel proud when the girl said the two words, "my man"?
He touched his nose, and the driver understood that this was the habitual behavior of his boss when he spotted his prey.
It seems that the boss not only regarded the girl as just a partner of the contract marriage, but also had some other schemes.
"I want all her information, and, find out what type of man she prefers."
"Yes, sir."
The falcon was going to fly!
Soon, old master, Harry Bryant, who was over sixty years old but still in good health, heard this piece of new.
Master Bryant looked at the screen and couldn't help bursting into laughter. He pointed at Angela in the screen and said, "I want this girl to be my daughter-in-law! Only her! Give orders to my third son at once. Tell him to bring her home. I'm quite satisfied with her! "
...
Finally, Angela stood in front of a villa, dumbfounded.
The old man opened the door and said respectfully, "Miss Parker, I am the Butler of Mr. Bryant. You can call me Andy. Mr. Bryant is addressing his work, but he'll be back with you for dinner in a second."
Angela was full of remorse right now --- she didn't want to have dinner with Hank Bryant.
She didn't really mean it!